August 20, 2024
By Aitzaz Ibrahim
LAHORE
Major labour organizations and unions have issued their vehement opposition to the recently proposed Punjab Labour Code 2024, stating that Code undermines workers’ rights and could pave the way for exploitative practices.
The Punjab Labour Code 2024 has been envisioned with the intent to streamline and consolidate various labour laws from 1923 to 2023. However, its critics claim that the Code undermines job security, legalizes exploitation of labour, and imposes constraints on trade unions, and any attempts to enforce it without first addressing these issues will be met with a strong protest campaign.
Some of the key components of the proposed law have attracted significant concern, such as eliminating workers’ right to strike, and certain loopholes that will facilitate bonded and child labour.
Hanif Ramay, the coordinator of the Labour Alliance Anti Punjab Labour Code 2024 expressed some of these concerns to Voicepk.net.
“The Punjab Labour Code 2024 is not designed to protect workers but to strip them of their fundamental rights,” Ramay asserts, highlighting that the Code provides legal cover to the contractual system of labour, which can erode job security. Furthermore, it also legitimizes the advance payment (peshgi) system in the kiln industry, a practice historically associated with bonded labour.
Ramay also points out that the Code’s restrictions on trade unions are particularly troubling.
“By limiting the formation of unions and severely restricting the right to strike, the Code threatens to turn workplaces into bonded labour camps,” he says..
Farooq Tariq, General Secretary of the Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee, described the Code as a direct attack on the trade union movement.
“There is nothing in this code that benefits workers. All the amendments appear to be designed to favor capitalists,” Tariq states.
Labour organizations are also critical of the Code’s stance on child labour. By raising the minimum employment age to 16 years without ensuring adequate educational and training facilities for younger children, the Code could inadvertently increase the number of children engaged in labour.
In a formal letter to the Secretary of the Punjab Labour and Human Resource Department, the Labour Alliance has demanded the immediate withdrawal of the draft Code, and hinted at escalating protests if their concerns are not addressed.
The Labour Alliance, which represents a broad coalition of unions and workers across the province, has stressed the importance of social dialogue within a tripartite framework involving the government, employers, and workers’ representatives. They advocate for legislation, including the Punjab Labour Code 2024, to be developed through comprehensive consultation with workers’ representatives, in line with International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions.